Yoshi has lived a great life since her release, the food-loving loggerhead turtle has been swimming her way from food rich spot to food rich spot on her way to Australia.
Global (28 January 2020) – Yoshi, a loggerhead turtle, was rescued from a boat in Table Bay Harbour by local authorities in 1996. She had been caught in a trawler’s fishing net. The aquarium guessed that she was about 3-5 years old at the time and about the size of a dinner plate. She was released at the age of 26 years old.
Yoshi had been a resident in the I&J tank for years and loved swimming up to the glass to get a look at all the visitors.
She reached maturity and started to dig at the bottom of her tank, which was a sign she was ready to head out into the world. The Two Oceans Aquarium then arranged her release, and she took her freedom swim in December 2017.
She first swam up the West Coast of Africa then turned around, headed back past Cape Town and on to the great unknown. The Aquarium has been keeping watch via a tracking device attached to her shell. They recently shared an update about where in the world she is.
“We’re experiencing some real turtle excitement! Yoshi has swum an incredible 35,400km in the two years since her release – that’s an amazing 48km per day (no rests)!
Yoshi’s journey is truly record-breaking. If the journey between her Angolan feeding grounds (which she visited in 2018) and her nesting site, which we currently think maybe on Australia’s northern coast, proves to be her natural migration path, then this could be the longest migration path of any sea animal ever recorded – longer than the current record holders: humpback whales, great white sharks and leatherback turtles.
In human terms, she’s swum 1.5 million lengths of a gym swimming pool – and that’s only half of her migration path.”
The Australians are keeping an eye out to see when Yoshi arrives. They too are excited for her arrival at the nesting site.
“Because of the implications of Yoshi’s journey, her story has gained the attention of conservationists and researchers locally and in Australia, who are all on the lookout for when Yoshi eventually reaches her nesting ground!
In the meantime, Yoshi continues being typical Yoshi – moving between food-rich ridges in the ancient Gondwana-aged tectonic basins off the coast of Western Australia. It’s ok Yoshi, keep us all in anticipation, we know food comes first!”
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